Imaging specialist

As an Imaging Specialist, you will play a key role in supporting researchers in their microscopy projects. As a team member of the Hubrecht Imaging Center you will provide new users a practical microscope training, technical guidance, and day to day support, to ensure users can confidently and independently operate our imaging systems.

What we offer
A challenging and varied position in an internationally recognized research institute.

• The opportunity to work with cutting-edge microscopy technologies.
• A collaborative, supportive, and innovative working environment.
• Opportunities for personal and professional development, including specialized microscopy training and continuous learning opportunities.
• This is a part-time position for 16 hours per week. The exact working days will be discussed and agreed upon.

If you are passionate about microscopy, enjoy working with researchers, and like sharing your knowledge through training and support, we would love to hear from you.

PhD student - Traumatic Brain Injury

Team
A PhD position is available in the Neurogenesis & Neurodegeneration group at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam. The Neurogenesis & Neurodegeneration laboratory led by Evgenia Salta employs transcriptomics and other molecular and cellular approaches to map the cellular and molecular complexity of the adult human hippocampus and dissect the biological pathways that are deregulated in dementia. The team employs primarily human postmortem brain tissue and iPSC reprogramming.

Project
The project is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) Open Competition and is a collaboration between the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN) and the Swammerdam Institute of Life Sciences (SILS) at the University of Amsterdam.
Repeated mild head injuries, the kind sustained by athletes, veterans, and victims of domestic violence, are increasingly linked to long-term memory problems and a higher risk of dementia later in life. Strikingly, these lasting effects can occur even when no visible brain damage is present. Yet, we still don't understand how repeated injury leads to memory decline, and there are currently no treatments that address these long-term cognitive consequences.

Beyond helping high-risk groups, this work may also shed light on Alzheimer's and other dementias that share similar underlying processes.
The research will be performed at the Salta lab at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam. This is a joint project with the group of Carlos Fitzsimons at the SILS, University of Amsterdam.
This study is a follow up of our previously published work:
https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(26)00142-6
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49299-6

What you will do
In this project, you will investigate what happens in the brain after repetitive mild traumatic brain injury, focusing on the hippocampus, the brain region central to memory. We are particularly interested in long-lasting inflammatory and neurogenic alterations and the cells involved in them, including microglia, astrocytes and immature neurons. By uncovering these mechanisms, you will help us to identify cellular or molecular targets that could guide the development of future therapies.

As a PhD candidate in our group, you will use state-of-the art single-nucleus RNA sequencing pipelines to process postmortem human brain from donors with a record of traumatic brain injury. You will be in charge of sample collection and stratification and apply advanced computational pipelines to identify cellular and molecular programs involved in the hippocampal response to injury and the downstream cognitive effects. Ultimately, you will establish in vitro human cell models to probe causal relationships between candidate targets and cellular phenotypes.

What we offer

• A stimulating, innovative and dynamic international research environment
• Opportunity to work with novel, exciting datasets and develop creative concepts and pipelines
• A strong community of care, support and scientific challenge
• Access to state-of-the art infrastructure and work conditions
• Active mentoring, supervision and training
• Opportunities for personal growth
• A particularly collaborative setting between the NIN and the SILS
• Possibility to develop your own projects and apply for third-party funding

The position is for a period of 4 years in total. The first appointment is for one year with the option for an extension for the remaining period pending on evaluation.

Information
For additional information, please contact Dr. E. Salta. e.salta@nin.knaw.nl
More information about the laboratory can be found on: Salta - Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience - Master the Mind (nin.nl) & https://saltalab.github.io/

PhD student - From brain circuits of threat to neurofeedback in humans

The Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and Maastricht University Medical Center are looking for an enthusiastic and ambitious PhD student to join a collaborative translational neuroscience project investigating how the brain controls responses to threat and stress. The project is part of a new programme aimed at strengthening the connection between fundamental neuroscience and clinical psychiatry.
Maladaptive responses to threat are an important feature of psychiatric conditions such as anxiety disorders, PTSD and depression. In this project, we will identify brain regions that can regulate threat responses and investigate whether these regions can ultimately be targeted using real-time fMRI neurofeedback.
The project provides a unique opportunity to work across the boundary between fundamental systems neuroscience and human translational neuroscience.

What will you do
You will first work at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN) in Amsterdam, in the laboratory of Prof. Alexander Heimel. Using mouse models of innate defensive behavior, you will identify a brain region that can regulate defensive behavior. You will use state-of-the-art approaches including behavioral analysis of innate defensive responses, activity-dependent neuronal tagging using TRAP2, viral and monosynaptic rabies tracing, optogenetic manipulation of neural circuits, fiber photometry and quantitative analysis of neural and behavioral data. In the second part of the project, you will work with Prof. David Linden and colleagues at Maastricht UMC, translating the circuit identified in mice to humans. You will use 7T fMRI to translate the findings from the first part and develop a real-time fMRI neurofeedback paradigm through which participants learn to regulate the identified brain region.
The ultimate aim is to develop a biologically grounded approach to neurofeedback in which targets are selected because they have a demonstrated causal role in controlling threat circuitry. The work may provide a foundation for future neurofeedback interventions in patients with stress-related psychiatric disorders.

What we offer
You will join two complementary and highly interactive research environments. At the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, you will receive training in causal circuit neuroscience and the neural mechanisms underlying innate behavior. At Maastricht UMC, you will gain expertise in human neuroimaging, high-field 7T MRI and real-time neurofeedback within a clinical neuroscience environment. The project includes regular interaction with both research groups and joint supervision throughout the PhD. The project is funded for four years. The first two years will primarily focus on circuit discovery and causal experiments in mice, followed by human circuit validation and neurofeedback experiments during years three and four. Some travel or/and movement allowance is budgeted for making the collaboration between Amsterdam and Maastricht smooth.
You will have opportunities to present your work at international conferences, collaborate with researchers across neuroscience, psychiatry and neuroimaging, and develop a profile as a genuinely cross-species translational neuroscientist.

Research environment
The project is a collaboration between the group of Prof. Alexander Heimel at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam and the group of Prof. David Linden at Maastricht UMC.The Heimel group investigates the neural circuits that transform sensory information and internal state into behavior, with particular expertise in visual and innate behaviors, circuit tracing and causal manipulation in mice.
The Maastricht team has extensive expertise in fMRI neurofeedback, high-field imaging and clinical neuroscience, including subcortical neurofeedback targets. The project will also involve interaction with researchers experienced in real-time and 7T fMRI.

Information

For questions about the position, please contact Alexander Heimel (a.heimel@nin.knaw.nl) or David Linden ........... There is no deadline for the application, the vacancy will be closed if a suitable candidate has been found.

Application

You can apply via the Apply Now button, please submit:

• A motivation letter explaining why this project interests you
• A detailed CV, including a grade list• Contact details of two academic referees, who can be contacted

Postdoctoral Researcher in Sustainability transitions and European soil research.

What you will be doing
Within the Soils for Europe project (EU-SOLO https://soils4europe.eu/), you will be responsible for the synthesis of work produced by thematic users groups and from published data on research needs with respect to soil health in Europe. In particular, your synthesis will bridge research needs and conceptual advancements between life sciences and social-economic sciences with respect to transition towards sustainable use of soils. In addition, you will apply transition-oriented perspectives to explore how scientific knowledge, policy, innovation and societal practices can contribute to transformative change in European soil management. This work will contribute to developing an overarching roadmap that will help the European Commissions’ Soil Mission to structure a new vision and policy agenda for the future of soil research, innovation, and regulation in the EU. In order to achieve this goal, you will coordinate online and in-person sessions with project members from the synthesis work package and other work packages, and contribute to (online) workshops with practitioners and other stakeholders. These workshops in combination with literature studies and cross-thematic synthesis, will identify potential conflicts and opportunities across the different EU-Soil Mission Objectives and regions with respect to the development of new knowledge. This work will be at the interface between natural and social sciences, society, and setting of policy agendas.

Postdoctoral researcher in the anthropology of marine conservation in Indonesia

Your workplace

The postdoc will apply ethnographic methods to study the governance of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Eastern Indonesia, with a specific focus on the impact of tourism.

This project approaches MPAs as complex social-ecological institutions, in which ecological health, local livelihoods, governance, economic activities, and place-specific contestations of power, authority, and world views intersect. MPA governance involves a multitude of local, national and international actors and stakeholders, who have different views about the relationship between people and their marine environments. Tourism, in this context, is a double-edged sword. It may bring local groups in, allowing for alternative sources of MPA funding and livelihood strategies within a broader paradigm of sustainability and local agency, or it may drive stakeholders apart when the development of MPAs leads to exclusion of certain groups when economic opportunities are monopolized or appropriated, or fail to materialize.

The aim is to develop distinct local cases to analyse various understandings of the role of MPAs and the ways in which different forms of environmental knowledge clash or synergize in the context of marine conservation. Actively involving local academic and non-academic partners, the postdoc will study the nature of these tensions and interactions and how they might be overcome to produce more effective, just, and inclusive forms of MPA governance.

This position is part of a research project titled “TIDE-MPAs: Tourism Impact Dashboard for Social-Ecological-System Resilience in Marine Protected Areas.” This project is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and the Indonesian Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology and led by Dr. Lisa Becking (Naturalis Biodiversity Center) and Beginer Subhan (IPB University). As a transdisciplinary and co-creative project, TIDE-MPAs seeks to synergize between marine science, social science, and practical work in marine conservation in Indonesia and the Caribbean. The postdoc will be the main researcher in a Work Package on local knowledge and authority in MPAs coordinated by Dr. David Kloos and Dr. Sikko Visscher (KITLV). They are also expected to work closely with the postdoc researcher/project coordinator at Naturalis Biodiversity Center, and to synergize with project staff in Indonesia and collaborating NGOs.

What you will be doing
Your key responsibilities will include:

• Carrying out autonomous ethnographic field research in one or more locations in Eastern Indonesia (specifically Maluku and/or West Papua).
• Leading at least two publications on the subject of local knowledge and governance in Marine Protected Areas.
• Supporting collaboration with key stakeholders in the broader project, including academic stakeholders, NGOs, and local partners.
• Contribute to an MPA tourism impact dashboard and tailored policy guidelines together with MPA managers, conservation professionals, and community leaders.
• Helping to organize and support joint fieldwork, workshops, consortium meetings and project events, together with the PIs and the coordinating Postdoc at Naturalis.